Local Account of the Crash and All the Victims

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Newham Recorder - Three die in horror crash
29 August 2007

THE lives of three young men have been tragically cut short - with a fourth fighting for survival and a fifth injured - following a horrific road accident in East Ham.

The young men who lost their lives, all former or current pupils of East Ham's Langdon School, were in a black VW Golf which was involved in the accident with a double decker bus on Saturday.

Fire brigade crews, police officers and London Ambulance Service staff got to the scene and found two young men in the VW had suffered fatal injuries and were pronounced dead at the scene.

They began the grim task of removing their bodies and rescuing the others, while they also had to free the trapped bus driver.

One of those who died was brilliant young QPR footballer Ray Jones, 18, who moved to Manor Park two weeks ago, and who would have been 19 yesterday. The former Langdon pupil, who had played more than 30 games for the QPR first team last season, was said to be a "lovely guy" by local people.

Ray, who was the driver of the car, had only recently passed his driving test and bought his first car within the past fortnight. Before moving to Manor Park, he lived with his nan in a block of flats in Folkestone Road, East Ham.

The second young man to die at the scene was Idris Olasupo,17.

Three other young men in the car were taken by ambulance to The Royal London Hospital.

The third to die on Saturday morning was the best friend of Idris, Jess Basilva, 17.

A fourth car occupant, Arthar Alfred Conrad, 17, is critically ill at The Royal London. His brother Mark, 16, was injured and recovering in the same hospital.

All lived in East Ham.

Scores of floral tributes, written messages and candles were placed at the accident scene on Saturday, Sunday and Bank Holiday Monday.

It is understood firefighters had to cut the number 474 bus driver from his cab after the accident. But he was not seriously hurt and there were only a few passengers on the bus, who escaped injury.

Police are still appealing for witnesses following the accident which happened at 12.20am Saturday outside East Ham fire station in High Street South. An investigation is being led by the Collision Investigation Unit at Chadwell Heath Traffic Garage.

Three pages of photos and exclusive reports in this week's Recorder - Recorder